Mountain Medicine
By Karon Lynn, M.A.
I had a hearing test and
was told that I have a mild hearing loss. How does a mild loss affect people?
A mild hearing loss can be annoying at times to you and
your friends: It is the most noticeable when you are in a'group of people and
there is background noise. You may find yourself answering questions improperly
when you misunderstood the question, which may cause an embarrassing -
situation. Telephone conversation usually is not affected.
How will I be affected by a moderate hearing loss?
Moderate hearing loss will affect most communication in
quiet and noise. It can be a primary reason for not chatting! with friends and
family. You may feel that people have begun to mumble more and more! This degree
of hearing impairment can cause misunderstandings at work and home. Both the
hearing-impaired person and his or her family/coworkers become very frustrated.
A common statement is that "He can hear me when he wants to!"
Telephone conversations will be more difficult.
How is my lifestyle affected by a severe hearing
impairment?
When a person has a severe hearing loss, it is usually obvious
to others as soon as a conversation is started. This will cause frustration to
the person speaking and they may decide that it is too difficult to continue
talking. The person with the hearing loss may not realize that the family and
friends are yelling just to make themselves heard. A severe hearing impairment
usually will cause isolation from family/friends, watching TV and telephone
conversations.
Can hearing impairment contribute to feeling depressed?
ABSOLUTELY! Hearing-impaired people may suffer depression,
irritability, avoidance, withdrawal, rejection and negativism in reaction to the
fact that they "lost" something. They, miss what once gave them
pleasure -hearing music, the laughter of children, attending lectures or
movies, the list goes on and on. Their self-esteem or sense of personal value
can be threatened when individuals must struggle to take a simple telephone
message or when others react to them with annoyance or impatience.
Hearing-impaired people must guess at some of the words they hear, so many times
the interpretation is not correct. This may cause the hearing impaired person to
think that people are talking about them or not including them on important
decisions which are being made at home or work.
What can be done?
See an audiologist to have the hearing evaluated. The
audiologist will sit and discuss the test results and the variety of options you
and your family have to help make life easier. This may include a referral to
your physician to rule out a medical problem, trial use of hearing aids or other
assistive technology, even speech therapy or lip reading lessons!
Karoff Lynff is an audiologist at FMC and has her Certificate of clinical
Competency in audiology.
Source: Arizona Daily Sun, Sunday, June 18, 2000 pp.25
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1998 Northern Arizona University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED